Ancient dog breeds
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Fourteen ancient breeds of dog have recently been identified through advances in DNA analysis. These breeds of domesticated dog show the fewest genetic differences from wolves. The breeds are geographically diverse, including dogs from Siberia, Japan, Alaska, China, Tibet, and Africa.
The identification of the fourteen "Ancient" dog breeds was established in the article "Genetic Structure of the Purebred Domestic Dog" by Parker et alia in the journal Science [1], Volume 304 (May 21, 2004) (PubMed link [2]). This study compared DNA from dogs of 85 AKC-registered breeds (5 individuals per breed in most cases); according to the Supplementary Online Information published with the article, "Particular efforts were made to sample the most popular breeds." As there are some 400 known dog breeds (of which the AKC recognizes 152), it is likely that an extended study would reveal additional "ancient" breeds.
[edit] The fourteen ancient breeds
The following are the dog breeds listed as ancient in the published study and their countries of origin:
- Afghan Hound (Afghanistan)
- Akita (Japan)
- Alaskan Malamute (United States (Alaska))
- Basenji (Congo)
- Chow Chow (China)
- Lhasa Apso (Tibet)
- Pekingese (China)
- Saluki (Egypt, Persia)
- Samoyed (Siberia)
- Shar Pei (China)
- Shiba Inu (Japan)
- Shih Tzu (China/Tibet)
- Siberian Husky (Siberia)
- Tibetan Terrier (Tibet)
[edit] Controversy
There is some controversy over the results of the study, as some have noted that breeding between wolves and specific breeds in recent times may have led to inaccurate results. As a result of these breedings, the offspring would have gained genetic similarities with wolves and may mask the truth about the real differences between the breed and wolves before these interbreedings. It also overlooks other ancient breeds, such as the Norwegian Elkhound which is believed to have originated up to 7000 years ago. Likewise, this study only includes 85 of the world's more than 400 dog breeds, omits many primitive lineages, and clusters the breeds together into just four major groups called clades (Ostrander et al., 2004).
